1. Technical Field
The present disclosure relates to a surgical instrument for applying surgical fasteners or staples to body tissue, and more particularly, to an introducer assembly for use with an end-to-end anastomosis stapling apparatus.
2. Background of Related Art
Anastomosis is a surgical joining of separate hollow organ sections. Typically, an anastomosis procedure follows surgery in which a diseased or defective section of hollow tissue is removed and the remaining end sections are joined. Depending on the desired anastomosis procedure, the end sections may be joined by either circular, end-to-end or side-to-side organ reconstruction methods.
In a circular anastomosis procedure, the two ends of the organ sections are joined by means of a stapling instrument which drives a circular array of staples through the end section of each organ section and simultaneously cores any tissue interior of the driven circular array of staples to free the tubular passage. Typically, these instruments include an elongated shaft having a handle portion at a proximal end to actuate the instrument and a staple holding component disposed at a distal end. An anvil assembly including an anvil shaft with attached anvil head is mounted to the distal end adjacent the staple holding component. Opposed end sections of the organ to be stapled are clamped between the anvil head and the staple holding component. The clamped tissue is stapled by driving a plurality of staples from the staple holding component so that the ends of the staples pass through the tissue and are deformed by the anvil head.
In use, one end section of the organ is secured about the anvil assembly and the other end section of the organ is held in place adjacent the staple holding component. The shaft of the anvil assembly is removably connected to the instrument. Once the anvil shaft is secured to the instrument, the anvil is drawn into close approximation to the staple holding component. The instrument is then fired to cause the staples to pass through tissue of both sections of the organ and deform against the anvil. During the firing step, a circular knife is advanced to cut tissue inside the staple line, thereby establishing a passage between the two sections of the organ. After firing, the instrument is typically removed by withdrawing the anvil through the staple line, after which the surgeon carefully inspects the surgical site to ensure a proper anastomosis has been achieved.
While circular staplers are helpful in a number of surgical procedures, problems such as anastomotic leak, tear of tissue during stapler extraction, bleeding, and other complications may arise. Another issue relates to the contamination of the circular stapler.